CONCERNING SAINT VINCENTIUS, BISHOP OF TROYES IN GAUL.
ABOUT THE YEAR 546.
CommentaryVincentius, Bishop of Troyes in Gaul (S.)
I. B.
[1] Saint Vincentius was the tenth Bishop of the Church of Troyes; for with the complete designation of sainthood he is honored by Antoine de Mouchy, On the Sacrifice of the Mass, chapter 19; Jean Chenu; Claude Robert; Nicolas Camuzat; and Nicolas Des Guerrois. Pierre Pithou and Chenu think he was raised to the mitre in the year of Christ 536 and died in 546. Camuzat, Des Guerrois, and Robert more probably estimate that he succeeded Saint Camelianus in the year 525 or 526 and held the see for more than twenty years.
[2] Because his feast-day is not celebrated in the city of Troyes, nor any other solemnity, we here join him with Saint Aventinus, in whose honor (as is said in the latter's Life, chapter 3, number 12) "the holy man Bishop Vincentius ordered a basilica to be carefully founded below the city of Troyes, in which he himself rests, joined at his side." That basilica is now within the city, as written above, the walls having been extended further. Camuzat records that there still exists in it a stone sepulchre, raised three or four feet from the ground, in which the body of Saint Vincentius was placed. Some say it is now preserved in the principal church of Troyes; yet no ferial day, no solemn and annual celebration consecrated to his memory, is observed, nor does any trace of his deeds and admirably spent life remain in the ancient histories. So writes Camuzat.
[3] Des Guerrois disagrees and denies that the body of Saint Vincentius appears to have been translated thence, because his name is nowhere found inscribed in the Calendars, nor is there any mention of Saint Vincentius in the Legendaries of the Cathedral Church, from which, on the Sunday after the feast of the Ascension — dedicated to the solemnity of the Holy Relics — lessons about them are recited at the Matins Office. He therefore judges that his body is contained within the ancient tomb. This is seen before the Choir of that basilica on the right, protruding half a foot from the floor, covered with a stone upon which four small columns are placed, and upon these rests another stone — the whole structure being three or four feet high — so that the sacred deposit may be reverenced and cannot be trodden upon by feet, which ancient piety was accustomed to guard against. The same writer prays to God that He may deign to inspire the mind of some Bishop to unearth and honorably re-deposit this treasure.